Avvo’s Britton: “arrows in my back”

Avvo’s Mark Britton just addressed the Drilling Down on Local conference, explaining how the Seattle online attorney rating service ruffled a few feathers after its launch last year.

“I have never felt so many arrows in my back from my fellow lawyers,” said Britton, who explained how the company was sued nine days after launch by two attorneys who didn’t like their numerical ratings. (The case was dismissed last December).

Despite that initial challenge, Britton said he is bullish about the legal search market. The reason?

Lawyers spend a lot of money on advertising, roughly $4.5 billion. But most of that occurs in traditional media, with $1.3 billion going to print ads in Yellow Pages.

For Britton, the former general counsel at Expedia, there is a disconnect going on since his research shows that 32 percent of people seeking legal advice turn to the Internet. That compares to 25 percent for Yellow Pages.

Britton also made comparisons between Avvo and what Expedia accomplished in the online travel business.

“We certainly are taking a page from the Expedia play book, no doubt about it,” said Britton, adding that Avvo also is attempting to attack an inefficient marketplace.

Just as Expedia pulled together fragmented information related to travel, Avvo is trying to do the same in the legal business. The key, he said, is to give consumers more information and guidance than they have encountered before.